Mobile-Image : Z4 ///M

[Carn]

Last weekend I had the opportunity to work on another of these fantastic cars. This time around it was a metallic blue convertible version that was in need of some TLC.




First up as usual was the wheels. Not overly dirt and just the usual day to day dirt buildup...







Arches were in need of a good scrubbing


As were the tailpipes...





Wheels got Sonax as usual and arches got pre-soaked with 5:1 APC







Ez-Detail brush amongst others was put to good use



With the wheels and arches cleaned up the car was washed using the TBM, CG's CWC and my Raceglaze lambswool wash mitt. Clay duty was entrusted to Smartwax blue clay which did a terrific job of removing all the surface contamination...




With the car cleaned and dried I set about inspecting the paintwork. First up was the Led Lenser T7 which did a good job of highlighting the fine swirls and marring...







Bird bomb!



Under the halogens the deeper RIDS and damage was evident as well









The correction process started with Menz 106FA on a yellow 3M pad. Whilst this cleaned up all of the fine swirling, some of the deeper defects were putting up a fight. After stepping up to SIP I managed to achieve around 90% correction in a single pass with only the deeper RIDS still remaining and clearly visible under the lights. Being a single stage correction detail I was happy with the results and set about polishing the remainder of the car.

Attempted 50/50 shot


And some afters...















Whilst busy around the back end of the car I tidied up the tailpipes as well...






A few reflection shots from the correction stage (taken during the course of the day/evening)

















With the correction stage completed at around 9pm on Saturday evening I gave the car a final wash down before drying and applying the 1st layer of the LSP.

I decided to go with 2 coats of Raceglaze 55' on this beauty to see how it would look on the metallic blue...

Some after shots in the garage







I returned briefly on Sunday morning to wax and seal the wheels (Rimwax topped with 845), and apply the finishing touches (Satin Prot all round).

Finished wheels...




Tailpipes in the natural light (indoors and outside)




Trim



Sunlight peeking through highlighting the flake and colour





Some more reflection and detail shots in the daylight
















Orange peel was quite bad at the back end...















And finally some full sun shots...













As always thanks for looking

[dood786]

Nice work as always, how do you apply the raceglaze?
By hand or machine?

[Naush]

Nice work dude! Car looks great.

[Kido]

Excellent stuff once again!!

[Woodie]

The usual Mobile Image standard .

A question on the tyres. I've noticed that you've moved to Satin Prot as your go-to product for the tyres. I like the clean, matt finish it leaves, but can you comment on its endurance? Also, what size does it come in and how does is compare to other tyre dressings from on a cost/volume basis, i.e. is it economically feasible to use as a regular use tyre dressing?

[springbok]

OMG those tailpipes!!!!

What do you use on the insides of them? Steel wool, goldilocks, power drill??

[Jughead]

Amazing Work Carn!!!!
Tailpipes also caught my attention ...
Probably cos I know I still have to do mine...

[Carn]

Thanks gents, appreciate the comments

(31-03-2010 08:41 PM)dood786 Wrote:  Nice work as always, how do you apply the raceglaze?
By hand or machine?

By hand dood.

(01-04-2010 08:06 AM)Woodie6250 Wrote:  The usual Mobile Image standard .

A question on the tyres. I've noticed that you've moved to Satin Prot as your go-to product for the tyres. I like the clean, matt finish it leaves, but can you comment on its endurance? Also, what size does it come in and how does is compare to other tyre dressings from on a cost/volume basis, i.e. is it economically feasible to use as a regular use tyre dressing?

I can't comment on endurance as I haven't yet been back to any of the clients I used it on. I am going back to this particular household to deliver some products this weekend so I will check up on it after this weeks wet weather.

Prot comes in a 500ml spray bottle @ around the R180 mark. I haven't measured exact volumes per job as such, but having used it quite extensively on both interior's, engine bays and tires over the past 2 details, I would estimate that I have used about 40ml or so thus far


Sven's been using it regularly for a few weeks now...I am sure he can comment from an independant owners perspective wrt endurance and usage on his own vehicle.

(01-04-2010 07:25 PM)springbok Wrote:  OMG those tailpipes!!!!

What do you use on the insides of them? Steel wool, goldilocks, power drill??

I recently got some abrasive pads to sample for some unrelated projects at work. They are designed to put scratch finishes on stainless steel and aluminium as you would find on high end appliances...They work a treat with some APC and Raceglaze Alutech metal polish